CBO Says Public Option Would Cost More Than Private Insurance – Don’t Believe It

The public insurance option would typically charge higher premiums than private plans available in the exchange, according to the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House bill.

That surprising conclusion raises doubts about Democratic promises that a government-run insurance plan would provide a lower-cost alternative to consumers. At the same time, it calls into question Republican charges that the plan amounts to government takeover of health insurance — because only 6 million people would enroll in the plan, according to the CBO.

Nonsense. As has been pointed out any number of times, it depends on how robust the public option is, how it is configured and whether or not it uses public money. If, for instance, it was structured as some would like – Medicare – there’s no question that what the GOP charges would be true. And, this is the House bill before the vote. What I think is may happen is this version of a “public option” may be in there as a place holder to get the bill passed out of the House with the idea that a more robust version will be added during the markup with the Senate version (assuming it gets passed). CBO has most likely scored this particular House version properly for now but don’t believe for a second that ends this.

In this fight, every trick in the book is being used, and if you believe this is the final version of the public option, I have some ocean front property in Kansas in which you may be interested.

Great article! I DON’T belive it. One reason why is that there’s a non-profit health management company in OH that’s providing help for the underprivilaged and staying in the black. They are serving around 1 million people. This model put on a larger scale could be the answer that we’re looking for. http://cli.gs/z3AtaY/